Thursday, October 9, 2014

Interview w/ Maya Banks--there...might just be a Kelly brother *nods*

A sizzling story of a woman who risks her life and her heart to find a wealthy man’s missing sister—the first novel in a sexy new romantic suspense series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Maya Banks

When Caleb Devereaux's younger sister is kidnapped, this scion of a powerful and wealthy family turns to an unlikely source for help: a beautiful and sensitive woman with a gift for finding answers others cannot.

While Ramie can connect to victims and locate them by feeling their pain, her ability comes with a price. Every time she uses it, it costs her a piece of herself. Helping the infuriatingly attractive and impatient Caleb successfully find his sister nearly destroys her. Even though his sexual intensity draws her like a magnet, she needs to get as far away from him as she can.

Deeply remorseful for the pain he’s caused, Caleb is determined to make things right. But just when he thinks Ramie's vanished forever, she reappears. She’s in trouble and she needs his help. Now, Caleb will do risk everything to protect her—including his heart. . . .

*little bloggery pep talk--do not go all fangirl squealy...do not go all fan girl squealy--oh damn! She's here! Eep!* Good morning Maya! Welcome to the blog! *rubs hands together* I cannot wait to hear about the new series! It's gotten a spot cooler here so thought we'd settle in with some blackberry sage tea while we dish some bookish gossip. Oh,there's Nutella hot chocolate too if that's you're thing--it's so so good!

You’re too funny! It’s ME who’s excited to be invited! And just for you, I dragged Garrett and Joe along. Garrett only agreed because it got him out of babysitting duty (the baby is currently teething) and well Joe is the only unmarried brother left, so he was unanimously voted on by the rest to be thrown under the bus and have to be dragged along with me. (he seriously just GROWLED at me!) He forgets that if he doesn’t behave I’ll completely embarrass him when I write his book!

Hehe he just went pale and quickly shut up. Garrett elbowed him and said, “Dude…NOT smart to piss off the author of your fate. If you were as awesome as I am, you’d end up with someone like Sarah and have the cutest baby girl ever, but you aren’t, so there’s no possible way for you to top me.”I can’t repeat what Joe just said in return…

Oooo well hello there Garrett *grins* Alright, alright he's taken. I know *flails* Now if you had 10 seconds only to hook someone what little bit of awesome would you tell them about Keep Me Safe that would have them panting for more?

Keep Me Safe is a LONG awaited story for me. I’ve wanted to write this story and book 3 for SO long. I’ve had those two stories in my head for YEARS. But a concise peek (and I’m not very concise!) is that Ramie has psychic abilities, unique abilities, that enable her to track kidnapping victims by touching an object belonging to the victim. She makes a connection to them, but the downside is that she experiences every thing the victim does once she makes that connection. Everything. So it’s rather horrifying. She’s an empath who is only able to feel or detect the evil in people. Never the good. So her “gift” is more of a curse since she’s never able to feel the GOOD.Caleb hunts her down when his sister is abducted and they’ve exhausted all leads. He knows he’s racing against the clock and when Ramie refuses because she’s at her breaking point, he “forces” her compliance by shoving his sister’s scarf into her hands and holding her hands around it. And promptly sends her to hell.Horrified by what he’s done, he’s determined to make it up to her. But she disappears and no amount of searching on his part is able to unearth her. Until she contacts him a year later because she’s in terrible danger and doesn’t know who else to turn to.And well, thus begins their journey :)

Ack! Sounds like quite the read! Can you tell us 3 fun/sexy/interesting behind the scenes facts about Ramie, Caleb and their story??

You’re probably going to kill me but I’m drawing a huge blank here… Behind the scenes. Hmmm. I got nothing! Sorry! I tend to write in a vacuum and no one reads my stuff before my editor except ONE person in the entire world. So I suppose a “behind the scenes” item would be 2am phone calls to my “person” when a plot point had me perplexed and we’d talk it out so I could continue writing!

Gotta say that'd be a neat call to get. *nods* I'm a total tart when it comes to quotes. I just love them. What was your favorite quote from Keep Me Safe that just made you swoon or had you gigglesnorting or sighing in girly bliss? Or going oh my dayum!

I have a few so bear with me. I’ll list them chronologically in the order they appear in the story :)

“I’m so sorry. You’ll never know how much. My family and I owe you more than I can ever repay. I’ll go for now and pray to God I’m not too late. But I’m coming back, Ramie. Count on it. I’ll make this up to you if it’s the very last thing I do.” --- Caleb

“I will protect you, Ramie. I don’t make promises I can’t keep.” ---Caleb

He pulled her hands away from him, lacing their fingertips before lowering them to the bed just above her head. Hands twined, his mouth sliding from her mouth down her jaw and then to her neck, he whispered against her ear.

“You do have someone to live for, Ramie. You have me.” --Caleb

“You are not a stranger,” he said savagely. “You aren’t nobody, Ramie. You’re somebody. You’re important. To me. You’re important. So stop telling me what I can and can’t choose. Stop telling me what to feel.” -- Caleb

“What you don’t get is that I want you,” Caleb repeated. “What you don’t get is that the idea of you in the hands of a monster terrifies me. What you don’t get is that you are important to me. And what you don’t get is that no matter how much my sister hates you being here, I’m not letting you walk out of my life and that has nothing to do with any debt I or my family owes you. Or any obligation I may have felt a year ago. It has absolutely nothing to do with you saving Tori. I won’t let you go because I want you to stay. I realize you’ve never had anyone fight for you, Ramie. But you do now. You have me.”

You get the point hehe. LOTS of “Caleb” quotes!

Hey. Nuthin' wrong with that :D So, first thing that comes to mind about Ramie?

Fragile, vulnerable, broken, yet strong. She possesses an inner core of steel even though she doesn’t acknowledge it. She thinks she’s weak. Timid. A coward. And a burden to Caleb. When in fact, she’s held up under horrific emotional, mental and physical strain. Her path to “overcoming” is a powerful one.

What about Caleb?

Caleb—Intense, passionate, unyielding, loyal, protective yet tender. He’s fierce and determined in every thing he does. He doesn’t do anything halfway. He’s either all in or completely out and to him, family is everything.

Ahhh he sounds like my kinda guy. Yums. Now, If you had 24 hours to spend with one of your characters...who would you pick and what kind of goodness would yall get up to? *raises eyebrow* And would it be naughty?

Not to disappoint you but I’m a boring kind of girl and there’s not a lot of naughtiness other than in my writing! But if I could spend time with any of my characters, I’d definitely choose to hang out on Kentucky Lake with the Kellys :) I used to live in the exact location that the KGI series is set and I still consider it “home” so writing those books is more than simply writing a story. It’s a homecoming of sorts for me because I get to revisit “home” through the pages of the KGI books and I enjoy every word.

::snort:: I tend to leave my kink to the pages too. Gotta say that sounds like a a damn fine way to spend 24 hours. *sighs* the Kelly brothers really are dreamy *glances over at Joe* Hey Joe :D Uhh,, oh yes...Speaking of heroes...You've had a lot of oh-so-tasty heroes. Personally, I'm a Garrett girl. We share a love of ketchup so it was an insta-love kinda thing happening there. lol Do you have a hero (or heroine) that just grabbed your heart the most?

I totally admit to loving me some Garrett. (Joe just glared at me. Oops!) Sorry, Joe. I love you too! But Garrett… He reflects my dry sense of humor and love of F-bombs. LOTS of F-bombs lol.To be fair to all my heroes, I’ll give a favorite from each of my series or trilogies :)For the KGI series, Garrett is a favorite, but I also have serious love for Swanny and Cole. (Joe just muttered, “What am I? Chopped liver??”)From the Breathless trilogy, Ash is my favorite. For the Surrender trilogy, Jensen is my favorite. For the Sweet Series, it’s close between Damon and Connor.

Oh Damon was an interesting one that's for sure. Alright a couple quickies :D

Favorite Man Candy? Pictures are welcome!

No pics, sorry! But I enjoy the “view” anytime I get to gaze at The Rock or Oded Fehr *g*

*ohs well I do believe I have some Rock man candy floating around here somewhere Maya. Hm. Lets me see*

Yard gnomes or flamingos? Or those creeptastic trees with the faces?

Uhm none of the above? They all sound creepy to me!

Weirdest thing in your purse right now?

Air freshener? *yup that's...a little odd*

Best "burning soup" moment? aka cooking disaster

Both involve the same dish ironically enough. Lasagna. And I make a kickass lasagna. Usually… But one time I put together the lasagna and left out the noodles. I layered meat and cheese but sorta forgot the noodles. The other time wasn’t really my fault. The oven obviously had gone out only we hadn’t REALIZED this yet. So I cook the lasagna the usual amount of time. The cheese was nice and brown on top and crisp at the corners. The middle? Cold and the noodles hard and not remotely al dente. Oy!Oh! How could I have forgotten THIS one. I mean every self respecting southern woman knows how to make cornbread dressing. My husband and mine first Thanksgiving together, I made cornbread dressing for him to take to his work holiday lunch. But I accidentally used SWEET cornbread mix instead of regular aka NORMAL cornbread. (Sweet cornbread is an abomination! Cornbread, if eaten alone and not mixed into something—like dressing—should be warm, with butter slathered on it and have a savory flavor. Not be a dessert!

Bwaha. Nice. *nods* Strangest thing you've Google searched in the name of research?

I’m drawing a huge blank here. I’m pretty sure I’ve researched some er uhm interesting “sexual” items for my erotic romances, but in the interest of public viewing I’ll just keep that info to myself ;)

I'm completely obsessed with?

Crushed ice!

Would not mind a little of that right now. A little hot this evening *glances at the man candy that is the Kelly brothers* So, um, what's up next for you?

Well, after KEEP ME SAFE debuts October 7th, the 2nd book releases in January and the 3rd in March, so those first three books are coming out in quick succession! Also coming next year is the next KGI story, Darkest Before Dawn (KGI #10) featuring the anti-hero Hancock and THEN I have a brand new erotic romance series (The Enforcers) debuting with the first book in August.

Oh wow another new series! Exciting! We'll let you get back to the writing :) Thanks so much for coming by today to dish a little gossip Maya! I'm so excited to hear all about the new series and can't wait to check it out :)

Thanks for having me! I hope you enjoy the Slow Burn Series as well as other future releases xoxo

FTC Disclaimer: The books I review come from a number of places...ones I have purchased, some provided by authors or publishers in exchange for honest reviews (yeah some of those get DNF'd and 1 stars too) and some I've received from friends. I'll always give yall exactly what I think regardless of how the books ended up on my shelf.

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